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<TITLE>Charles Addams Biography</TITLE>
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<TD VALIGN="TOP" height="223" colspan="3"> <font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="2"><BR>
<FONT COLOR="#000000"> To many peoples' surprise, <B>Charles Addams'</B>
(1912-1988) mother did not give birth to him in a dilapidated house along
a deserted highway. Nor did he have a pet alligator that was a scourge
to the neighborhood's poodles. In fact, he grew up in the almost generic
suburban community of Westfield, New Jersey. He yearningly scribbled pictures
of the more exciting realm of knights and their castles. He was known
however, to sometimes wander in the local graveyard, and did play in a
nearby Victorian house that would one day become the model for the Addams'
family home. However, somewhat sadly to fans, the predilection for morbidity
apparent in much of his work was not the result of childhood mishaps.<BR>
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After graduating from high school, Addams began studying at Colgate University
in 1929. Dissatisfied, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania
after a year, resolutely deciding the life of the academic was not for
him. Apparently though it was schooling that was not for him, as he dropped
out of the Grand Central School of Art in New York City after only a year.
In 1935, the New Yorker signed him on as a regular cartoonist. Living
on the modest thirty-five dollars per cartoon the New Yorker paid, Addams
developed a sophisticated style of humor. His macabre wit could make his
audience laugh at the truly grotesque and sometimes appalling. Some of
his most popular characters were even spun off into a popular television
series - the "Addams Family". His books of collected cartoons were best
sellers.<BR>
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Exhibitions of his work have been mounted at the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge,
MA, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the Museum of the City of New
York. Having hosted a retrospective in 1994, the New York Public Library
continues to show a small rotating group of his works. Addams has also
been honored with the Yale Humor Award (1954) and a special award from
the Mystery Writers of America. In his spare time he enjoyed collecting
vintage automobiles and ironically, he died behind the wheel in 1988.<BR>
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<CENTER><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE="2" FACE="HELVETICA,ARIAL"><B>[Cartoon from <I>The New Yorker</I>; ink and watercolor on grisaille, 12.5 x 12.25", ca. 1938]</B><BR><BR></FONT></CENTER>
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